2002 Kia Sedona problems
Owners have filed 328 complaints with NHTSA about the 2002 Kia Sedona. Electrical system is the most reported problem area, at 18% of complaints. Next are brakes (9%) and seat belts (9%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 328 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Electrical system 18% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 26 and 25
- Injuries and deaths
- 37 and 2
- Typical mileage
- 47,000 miles 182 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 59 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 26 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 40 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 26 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 15 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 3 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 5 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 2 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 3 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 3 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Of the 182 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 47,000 miles. For electrical system specifically, the median reported mileage is about 50,000 miles (32 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 26 complaints mention a crash; 25 complaints mention a fire; 37 injuries reported; 2 deaths reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 82% of model years in our database.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2002 ranks 1st most-complained-about out of 18 model years of the Kia Sedona with enough data (272 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 3 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
Before the incident there were issues with the rear captain chairs seat belt latch when trying to buckle them. I have three small children under the age of 3 years of age and it is very important and crucial that seat belts are in working order without issues for the safety of their well being. Before the incident the seats themselves in the rear rows had issues latching as well when being installed.
We purchased the 2002 kia sedona yesterday 12-28-03. We drove the car for about 45 minutes today, stopped for dinner at a fast food restaurant and then drove again for about 10 minutes when while driving the vehicle, the battery and brake warning lights flashed on and off a few times, then stayed on. When the brake pedal was depressed, the radio shut off and would not come back on. Then the seatbelt warning light came on and the dash lights, exterior and interior lights dimmed.
When the electric lock is used on the kia sedona it disables the following: electric windows, dash lights (all) interior dome lights and tail lights license plate light and all parking lights are lost. After setting overnight the systems come back on line so far. However if someone hits the locks and it is at night, all the light that another driver would see from the rear are out. The driver can not see any instruments at all. And any windows that were open will not change position.